An Internet troll is a member of an online
social community who deliberately tries to disrupt, attack, offend or generally
cause trouble within the community by posting certain comments, photos, videos,
GIFs or some other form of online content.

You can find trolls all over the Internet – on message
boards, in your YouTube video comments, on Facebook, on dating sites, in blog comment sections and
everywhere else that has an open area where people can freely post to express
their thoughts and opinions. Controlling them can be difficult when there are a
lot of community members, but the most common ways to get rid of them include
either banning/blocking individual user accounts
(and sometimes IP addresses altogether), reporting them to authorities, or
closing off comment sections entirely from a blog post, video page or topic
thread.

Regardless of where you'll find Internet trolls lurking,
they all tend to disrupt communities in very similar (and often predictable)
ways. This isn't by any means a complete list of all the different types of
trolls out there, but they're most certainly some of the most common types
you'll often come across in active online communities.

01

of 10

The insult troll

The insult troll is a pure hater, plain and simple. And they
don't even really have to have a reason to hate or insult someone. These types
of trolls will often pick on everyone and anyone – calling them names, accusing
them of certain things, doing anything they can to get a negative emotional response
from them – just because they can. In many cases, this type of trolling can
become so severe that it can lead to or be considered a serious form of
cyberbullying.

02

of 10

The persistent debate troll

This type of troll loves a good argument. They can take a
great, thoroughly researched and fact-based piece of content, and come at it
from all opposing discussion angles to challenge its message. They believe they're right, and
everyone else is wrong. You'll often also find them leaving long threads or
arguments with other commenters in community comment sections, and they're
always determined to have the last word – continuing to comment until that
other user gives up.

03

of 10

The grammar and spellcheck troll

You know this type of troll. They're the people who always
have to tell other users that they have misspelled words and grammar mistakes.
Even when they do it by simply commenting with the corrected word behind
an asterisk symbol, it's pretty much never a welcomed comment to any
discussion. Some of them even use a commenter's spelling and grammar mistakes
as an excuse to insult them.

04

of 10

The forever offended troll

When controversial topics are discussed online, they're
bound to offend someone. That's normal. But then there are the types of trolls
who can take a piece of content – often times it's a joke, a parody or something sarcastic – and turn on
the digital waterworks. They're experts at taking humorous pieces of content
and turning them into an argument by playing the victim. People really do get upset
by some of the strangest things said and done online.

05

of 10

The show-off, know-it-all or
blabbermouth troll

A close relative to the persistent debate troll, the
show-off or blabbermouth troll is a person who doesn't necessarily like to
participate in arguments but does love to share his opinion in
extreme detail, even spreading rumors and secrets in some cases. Think of that
one family member or friend you know who just loves to hear his
own voice. That's the Internet equivalent of the show-off or know-it-all or
blabbermouth troll. They love to have long discussions and write lots of
paragraphs about whatever they know, whether anyone reads it or not.

06

of 10

The profanity and all-caps troll

Unlike some of the more intelligent trolls like the debate
troll, the grammar troll and the blabbermouth troll, the profanity and all-caps
troll is the guy who has nothing really of value to add to the discussion,
spewing only F-bombs and other curse words with his caps lock button left on.
In many cases, these types of trolls are just bored kids looking for something to do
without needing to put too much thought or effort into anything. On the other
side of the screen, they're often harmless.

07

of 10

The one word only troll

There's always that one contributor to a Facebook status
update, a forum thread, and Instagram photo, a Tumblr post or any other form of social
posting who just says "lol" or "what" or "k" or
"yes" or "no." They're certainly far from the worst type of
troll you meet online, but when a serious or detailed topic is being discussed,
their one-word replies are just a nuisance to all who are trying add value and
follow the discussion.

08

of 10

The exaggeration troll

Exaggeration trolls can sometimes be a combination of
know-it-alls, the offended and even debate trolls. They know how to take any
topic or problem and completely blow it out of proportion. Some of them
actually try to do it to be funny, and sometimes they succeed, while
others do it just to be annoying. They rarely ever contribute any real value to
a discussion and often bring up problems and issues that may arguably be
unrelated to what's being discussed.

09

of 10

The off topic troll

It's pretty hard not to hate that guy who posts something
completely off topic in any type of social community discussion. It can be even
worse when that person succeeds in shifting the topic and everyone ends up
talking about whatever irrelevant thing that he posted. You see it all the time
online – in the comments of Facebook posts, in threaded YouTube comments, on Twitter and literally
anywhere there're active discussions happening.

10

of 10

The greedy spammer troll

Last but not least, there's the dreaded spammer troll. This
it the troll who truly could not care less about your post or discussion and is
only posting to benefit himself. He wants you to check out his page, buy from
his link, use his coupon code or download his free ebook. These trolls also
include all those users you see littering discussions on Twitter and Instagram
and every other social network with "follow me!!!" posts.

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Good NetiquetteAnd A Green Internet To All! =====================================================================

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